Democrats unveiled a party platform at their national convention Monday that echoes President Barack Obama's call for higher taxes on wealthier Americans while backing same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

Delegates will vote Tuesday to adopt the platform that reflects the president's argument that his work is unfinished and he deserves another four years to complete the job.

"Today, our economy is growing again, al-Qaeda is weaker than at any point since 9/11, and our manufacturing sector is growing for the first time in more than a decade. But there is more we need to do, and so we come together again to continue what we started," the platform said.

The document is a sharp contrast from the Republican blueprint that the GOP adopted at its convention last week. The Republican plan would ban abortion and gay marriage, repeal Obama's health care overhaul law and shift Medicare into a voucher-style program.

Democrats acknowledged that divergent views.

"This election is not simply a choice between two candidates or two political parties, but between two fundamentally different paths for our country and our families," the Democrats said.

TAXES

The Democratic platform calls for extending the middle-class tax cuts for the 98 percent of American families who make less than $250,000 a year, and makes a promise not to raise taxes on them. The platform claims a typical family has saved $3,600 during Obama's first term. "Now he's fighting to stop middle-class families and those aspiring to join the middle class from seeing their taxes go up and to extend key tax relief for working families and those paying for college, while asking the wealthiest and corporations to pay their fair share," the platform says.

The Republican platform would extend the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, pending reform of the tax code. It also says the party would try to eliminate taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains altogether for lower- and middle-income taxpayers. It also would work to repeal the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax.

ABORTION

The Democratic platform states that it "unequivocally" supports Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, and "supports a woman's right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay."

The platform states: "Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor and her clergy; there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way."

The Republican Party platform bans abortion in all cases, rape, incest and when the life of the mother is endangered. Republicans say "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed." It opposes using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or to fund organizations that perform or advocate abortions.

GAY MARRIAGE

The Democratic platform supports the movement to get equal treatment under the law for same-sex couples.

The platform says: "We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference." The platform opposes "federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection under the law" to same-sex couples.

The Republican Party platform affirms the rights of states and the federal government not to recognize same-sex marriage. It backs a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. (Contributors: Associated Press writers Andrew Miga, Michele Salcedo, Will Lester and Douglass K. Daniel contributed to this report.)

Pray for all the candidates to have a heart to embrace God's best for His nation. We recite the phrase "One Nation Under God" and in doing so we are affirming His sovereignty over this nation. His wisdom must be embraced if we are to grow as a nation and be a blessing to all nations of the world.

Just as Democrats were gaveling in their convention on Tuesday, the federal government announced an historic milestone - $16 trillion in total federal debt.

In an election already focused on domestic issues of jobs, spending and deficits, the $16 trillion number is likely to underscore just how much is at stake in November for both parties, which are offering dramatically different ways to begin to eat away at the deep hole.

Gross federal debt has been flirting with $16 trillion for the past two weeks, and the government ended last Thursday $15.991 trillion in debt.

With several debt auctions scheduled for the end of last week, budget analysts think the government probably broached the $16 trillion number on Friday, and it will be reported to the public Tuesday, which, thanks to the Labor Day holiday, is the next business day.

While $16 trillion isn't a tipping point, it is a stark number that will reflect poorly on Mr. Obama, who has overseen the biggest debt explosion in the country's history.

"This is a grim landmark for the United States," said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama on the Senate Budget Committee.

The Obama campaign didn't respond to a message seeking comment on the milestone, but, speaking on Fox News Sunday, David Axelrod, a top adviser to Mr. Obama, said Mr. Obama has a "plausible plan" to stabilize the debt, but acknowledged the plan doesn't actually begin to reduce it.

"You can't balance the budget in the short term because to do that would be to ratchet down the economy," he said.

That underscores both sides' dilemma: Republicans object to tax increases, saying they will stunt a recovery, while Democrats say reducing spending would likewise hurt.

The Congressional Budget Office last month said raising taxes or cutting spending, or both, might indeed send the economy into a recession, though the alternative - putting off fiscal tightening - means things are worse in the long term.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $3.88 billion per day since September 28, 2007. The estimated population of the United States is 313,443,114 so each citizen's share of this debt is $51,073.94. (Contributor: The Washington Times, brillig.com - U.S. National Debt)

Continue to pray that our U.S. leadership will find ways to responsibly address the issues of sound financial management of our growing national debt.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?" (Luke 14:28)

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Military action against Iran's nuclear program could be averted if the international community sets a clear "red line" it will not permit Iran to cross, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this week.

Netanyahu's comments came as the U.S. reportedly is considering making such a declaration to head off a possible Israeli strike on Iran. Mr. Obama has said the U.S. won't allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, while Israeli leaders have said that Iran even attaining the capability to make them would pose an existential threat to their country.

"This is a brutal regime that is racing ahead with its nuclear program, because it doesn't see a clear red line from the international community," Netanyahu said today at a meeting in his Jerusalem office, according to an e-mailed statement. "The greater the resolve and the clearer the red line, the less likely we'll have conflict."

Mr. Obama is moving ahead with plans to increase its military threat against Iran in an effort to convince Israel not to unilaterally strike the Islamic Republic and to force Tehran to take negotiations on its nuclear program more seriously, The New York Times reported on Monday.

The New York Times reported this Tuesday that American defense officials and experts in Israel say that because Israel does not have a bomb powerful enough to penetrate Iran's underground uranium-enrichment facilities, an independent strike would be likely to set the nuclear program back only one or two years, at most. That has led to major dissent among Israel's security professionals over the wisdom of such an attack. The Pentagon, in contrast, has the munitions, bombers, missiles, stealth aircraft and drones that would cause far more extensive damage.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Aug. 31 in Tehran that his country's nuclear program is intended for civilian purposes only and to use it to build weapons would be ''a sin."

Israeli and U.S. leaders have said repeatedly that "all options are on the table" to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions, including a military strike. Netanyahu told U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Aug. 1 that time "is running out" for a peaceful solution to Iran's atomic program.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France's BFM television today that he is "absolutely hostile to Iran having nuclear weapons, but I think that if there were an Israeli attack, unfortunately it could come back to haunt Israel by allowing Iran to cast itself as a victim."

In other news there is a growing gap on U.S. foreign policy vs. Israeli Government policy which is spearheaded by the current U.S. administration according to a report published by the Foreign Policy Journal. It states that a paper entitled "Preparing for a Post Israel Middle East", an 82-page analysis that concludes that the American national interest in fundamentally at odds with that of Zionist Israel. The authors conclude that Israel is currently the greatest threat to U.S. national interests because its nature and actions prevent normal U.S. relations with Arab and Moslem countries and, to a growing degree, the wider international community.

The study was commissioned by the U.S. Intelligence Community comprising 16 American intelligence agencies with an annual budget in excess of $ 70 billion. The IC includes the Departments of the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Defense Intelligence Agency, Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, State, Treasure, Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency commissioned the study. (Contributor: Foreign Policy Journal, The Jerusalem Post, Calev Ben-David with Bloomberg News, New York Times, News Max)

Pray that our U.S. government officials understand God's Word regarding blessing Israel and standing with her in her time of need. Pray that our U.S. foreign policy leaders understand the ramifications of going against God's will for Israel.

"I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:3)

This article has been condensed for this alert, but you can  <Click Here> to read our full report in PDF format.  

Food-stamp use reached a record 46.7 million in June, according to a U.S. government report.

Participation was up 0.4 percent from May and 3.3 percent higher than a year earlier and has remained greater than 46 million all year as the unemployment rate stayed higher than 8 percent. New jobless numbers will be released Sept. 7.

"Unemployment is stubbornly stuck," making it difficult to significantly reduce the number of food-stamp recipients, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an interview last month. "While people are going back to work, and there are jobs being added, they aren't being added at a clip that is as robust as anybody wants."

Food-stamp spending, which has more than doubled in four years to a record $75.7 billion in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011, is the USDA's biggest annual expense.

Reductions to the program have also emerged as a point of contention in debate over a farm bill to replace current law that expires September 30. The U.S. Senate in June passed a plan that would lower expenditures by $4 billion over 10 years, while the House Agriculture Committee the following month backed a $16 billion cut.

This week's report shows California with the most recipients, 4.012 million, a 0.8 percent gain from the previous month and 7.3 percent more than the previous year. Texas had the second- highest number of recipients, while down 0.4 percent from the previous month and 1.4 percent lower than a year earlier.

Louisiana and North Carolina, where Democrats are convening this week to renominate Mr. Obama, had the biggest monthly gains in enrollment, 1.3 percent. Enrollment fell the most in Utah, down 1.4 percent from May, followed by Idaho and Ohio.

Spending on what's officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) totaled $6.21 billion in June, 0.4 percent higher than the previous month and 2.8 percent more than a year earlier. The record is $6.26 billion spent in September 2011.

<Click Here> to see an interactive map showing stats on food stamp usage in each state. (Contributor: Bloomberg News, Charts Bin)

Pray that our government leaders count the cost of borrowing money that is not easily repaid in order to encourage citizens to lean upon the government and become indebted to the giver. Pray for independent means of helping those who need help without further burdening an already over stretched debt load by the U.S. government.  

"A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is His delight." (Proverbs 11:1)

"Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice." (Proverbs 16:8)

 

"Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan." (Exodus 22:22)

"If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. . . . If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. . . . If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave." (Leviticus 25:25, 35, 39)

U.S. home prices jumped 3.8 percent in the 12 months ending in July, according to a private real estate data provider. The year-over-year increase was the biggest in six years, further evidence that the housing market is steadily recovering.

CoreLogic said Tuesday that home prices also rose 1.3 percent in July from June. That's the fifth straight increase in both the monthly and year-over-year price indexes.

The index is the third national measure to show steady increases. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index posted its first annual increase in nearly two years last week. And a federal government housing agency has also reported annual increases.

The states with the biggest gains according to CoreLogic over the past 12 months were Arizona, Idaho, Utah, South Dakota and Colorado. In Arizona, prices have risen 16.6 percent since July 2011. Idaho has posted a 10-percent gain in that time.

But not all states are seeing increases. In Delaware, prices dropped 4.8 percent in the 12-month period. Prices fell 4.6 percent in Alabama in that stretch.

The housing market has been slowly recovering this year. Sales of new and previously occupied homes are up. Builders are more confident and starting work on more homes. And mortgage rates are near their lowest levels of the past six decades.

Prices are also rising because the supply of available homes remains tight.

Still, the housing market's recovery is just beginning. Prices remain 27 percent below their peak in April 2006, CoreLogic said.

The recent improvements have been widespread. Out of 100 large cities tracked by CoreLogic, only 23 posted year-over-year declines in July. That's four fewer than in June.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, prices began rising earlier this year amid a strong bid from investors for bargain-priced foreclosures. They have continued to climb as more buyers chase fewer homes for sale. Listings are down sharply from one year ago, the result of banks putting fewer foreclosures up for sale and traditional homeowners sitting on the sidelines.

But as home prices have picked up, the share of purchases by investors have fallen off significantly in June and July, according to a survey of real estate agents. The investor share of the purchases fell below 22% for the three-month period ending in July, down from more than 25% in May. Meanwhile, the share of purchases by current homeowners ticked up to around 44% of all sales, from 40% in May.

The increases may not sound large, but consider this: the last time the market saw such a big shift came in late 2009 and early 2010, when tax credits spurred a big rush in home-buying demand and when prices also posted year-over-year increases. (Contributor: ABC News, Salem Radio News Network, The Wall Street Journal)

Pray that those who desire to buy homes seek wisdom before entering in to a costly venture. Pray that creative financial means will be opened to those seeking to purchase a home for their families. Pray for a stabilized financial home purchasing market.

"I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures." (Proverbs 8:20,21)

The Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF) is urging the United States Supreme Court to review a decision of the Oklahoma Supreme Court striking a ballot initiative that would amend the Oklahoma Constitution to define "person" as "any human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being to natural death." In a friend of the court brief filed last week, the LLDF told the Court that the Oklahoma court ruling conflicted with prior Supreme Court precedent and should be reversed.

Earlier this year, Personhood Oklahoma began the process of collecting signatures to place Initiative Petition 395 on the ballot. Pro-abortion individuals, backed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, filed a protest with the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, claiming that IP 395 was unconstitutional and should not be permitted to be placed on the ballot.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed, holding that, on its face, IP 395 conflicted with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, affirming the right of women to obtain abortions without "undue burden" from state laws. The court preemptively found the law unconstitutional and ordered that the petition be stricken.

Last month, Personhood Oklahoma filed a petition seeking review in the United States Supreme Court, and LLDF is supporting that petition with its own brief, arguing that the Oklahoma court "acted precipitously to deprive the petitioners and the people of the state of Oklahoma of their right to engage in political expression on a matter of great public concern."

"If the United States Supreme Court does not affirm the right of the people to engage in the initiative process, the people's power will diminish, and we'll be stuck with activist judges," said Dana Cody, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "This isn't just an Oklahoma issue; it is a threat to political freedom in any state."

<Click Here> to read the full text of the court's brief in PDF format.

(Contributors: Christian Newswire, Life Legal Defense Foundation)

Pray that the lives of all unborn will be delivered from the hand of the unrighteous who would seek to destroy them before they were born. Pray for hearts to be opened and softened in regards to life before birth. Pray that the courts and its judges take up the righteous cause of protecting these unborn lives.

"Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk ... and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit." (Job 10:8-12 NIV)

The Anti-Israel crowd likes to pretend that the ethnic cleansing of the Middle East's Jews was an economic phenomenon. And every few weeks there is a reminder of how precarious the situation is even for the few Jews still remaining, in what was once an Egyptian city with a tremendous Jewish population.

For the first time in 2,000 years, this year there will be no Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services at the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria.

The synagogue was the last 'working' synagogue in Egypt. The Egyptian authorities have banned High Holiday services for 'security' reasons.

Levana Zamir, who heads the International Association of Egyptian Jews in Israel, comments: "It seems this is really the end of Jewish life in Egypt. The authorities have found a way to take over the last Jewish bastion, since all the remaining synagogues are already archaeological and tourist sites. It is very sad."

If even High Holiday services can't be held in the only synagogue in Egypt, then this is another demonstration that Jewish life in the Muslim world is simply impossible because of Moslem bigotry.

It was that bigotry which forced Jews out of Egypt.

The first Nationality Code was promulgated by Egypt on May 26, 1926. According to this Nationality Code, a person born in Egypt of a 'foreign' father, (who himself was also born in Egypt), was entitled to Egyptian nationality only if the foreign father "belonged racially to the majority of the population of a country whose language is Arabic or whose religion is Islam."

It is making life impossible for the last few who remain.

The Case for Israel can be seen in Alexandria, it can be seen in the attacks on Jews everywhere from Berlin streets to California campuses. As long as Moslem bigotry and persecution continues, an attack on the Jewish State is an attack on the only place in the world where Jews are free of Moslem persecution. (Contributor: Front Page Magazine)

Pray for those who are being persecuted. Pray that the Egyptian government would repent from their dangerous policy of rejecting the Jews in their land. The Egyptians were a safe haven for Jesus and His family when Herod sought to kill Him. Pray for the Coptic Church and all Christians in Egypt. Pray for the salvation of the Jews.

"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one." (John 17:14-18)

Not just for kids anymore, Halloween has shifted into a celebration for adults looking for an escape from the everyday, and with this shift, the Halloween industry is booming.

"It is an escape from reality for a day," says Kelly David, spokesperson for Spirit Halloween, the largest seasonal Halloween retailer in the country. "For adults, you can put on a Halloween costume and forget about work, the bad economy, and other pressures."

With the absence of a life in Christ, the human spirit looks for something to fill that void of real companionship, and Halloween is falsely attempting to fill that void for some.

In the past few decades, the Halloween industry has grown. Temporary Halloween stores are on the rise and other retailers have expanded their offerings for the October 31 celebration.

Halloween is the second-largest commercial holiday, with Christmas being the first. Overall Halloween spending is expected to be higher than last year when a weak economy slowed spending. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 148 million Americans will take part in some sort of Halloween celebration this year. In its 2010 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, the NRF found that Americans will spend $66.28 per person on costumes, candy, and decorations, up from last year's $56.31 and comparable to the $66.54 spent per person in 2008.

The tourism industry is also showing signs that Halloween is morphing into an empire. Cities and towns all over the country host Halloween-related events and activities, some of which span weeks. Travel agencies and attractions are even taking the opportunity to offer special Halloween travel packages.

For example, Salem, Massachusetts, known for being the location of the Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600s, has used its witchy history to become a popular tourist destination around Halloween.

Meanwhile, summer's end doesn't put a damper on activities at the Universal Orlando Resorts in Orlando, Florida. The resort's Halloween Horror Nights® has been moved from the first weekend in October to the last weekend of September. The Universal Orlando parks feature haunted houses and "scare zones" where actors in scary costumes jump out at visitors at any moment. (Contributor: Southern University Research)

Pray that those who are search of eternal life will find Jesus in their journey. Pray that there would be no need to find solace in pagan practices. Pray for an increased awareness of the fallacy of pagan practices played out in Halloween.

"Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 19:31)

"When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations." (Deuteronomy 18:9)

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"We've created a website called 40daysofprayer.net, and have made some great tools available to help engage the millions of believers who will be praying for our nation the 40 days prior to the elections - and beyond.  Desperate for Change is a powerful, non-partisan, Scripture-based prayer guide to use."

President, Harvest Prayer Ministries

Chairman, National Prayer Committee

This article has been condensed for this alert, but you can  <Click Here> to read our full report in PDF format.